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5/10/2017

Treasurer Josh Mandel Announces Launch of Clinton County Local Government and School Checkbooks on OhioCheckbook.com

Momentum Grows for Statewide Government Transparency with Over 1,100 Local Government and School Districts Partnering with OhioCheckbook.com

Press Release - Ohio Treasurer's Office

WILMINGTON– Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced today the launch of the Wilmington City School District, Richland Township and Green Township’s online checkbooks on OhioCheckbook.com. In December 2014, Treasurer Mandel launched OhioCheckbook.com, which sets a new national standard for government transparency and for the first time in Ohio history puts all state spending information on the internet. OhioCheckbook.com recently earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second year in a row.

The Ohio Treasurer's office was joined at today's announcement by Wilmington City Schools Treasurer Kim DeWeese.

Wilmington City Schools is the first school district in Clinton County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com, and Richland Township and Green Township are the third and fourth townships in Clinton County to post their spending on OhioCheckbook.com.

The following is a breakdown of today’s local government sites:

Wilmington City Schools’ online checkbook includes over 18,900 individual transactions that represent more than $31 million of total spending over Fiscal Year 2016.

Richland Township’s online checkbook includes over 3,600 individual transactions that represent more than $796,000 of total spending over the past three years.

Green Township’s online checkbook includes over 1,800 individual transactions that represent more than $577,000 of total spending over the past three years.

“I believe the people of Clinton County have a right to know how their tax money is being spent, and I applaud local leaders here for partnering with my office to post the finances on OhioCheckbook.com,” said Treasurer Mandel. “By posting local government spending online, we are empowering taxpayers across Ohio to hold public officials accountable.”

“Wilmington City Schools is proud to partner with Treasurer Mandel to post our spending on OhioCheckbook.com,” said Wilmington City Schools Treasurer Kim DeWeese. “The setup process was easy and the service comes at no cost to our school district.”

“I applaud Wilmington City Schools, Richland Township and Green Township for taking these steps toward greater transparency and accountability by joining this program,” said Speaker of the Ohio House Cliff Rosenberger.

“I applaud Wilmington City Schools and other Clinton County local governments for participating in OhioCheckbook.com,” said State Senator Bob Peterson. “It is important for taxpayers to see how their tax dollars are being spent in an easy and readily available way.”

On April 7, 2015 Treasurer Mandel sent a letter to 18,062 local government and school officials representing 3,962 local governments throughout the state calling on them to place their checkbook level data on OhioCheckbook.com and extending an invitation to partner with his office at no cost to local governments. These local governments include cities, counties, townships, schools, library districts and other special districts.

A large coalition of statewide and local government organizations have expressed support for OhioCheckbook.com and local government transparency, including:

Ohio Municipal League

Ohio Township Association

Ohio Association of School Business Officials

Buckeye Association of School Administrators

County Commissioner Association of Ohio

County Auditor Association of Ohio

Ohio Newspaper Association

Ohio Society of CPAs

Buckeye Institute

Common Cause Ohio

OhioCheckbook.com was launched on December 2, 2014, marking the first time in Ohio history when citizens could actually see every expenditure in state government. Since its launch, OhioCheckbook.com has received overwhelming support from newspapers and groups across the state and, as of May 8, 2017 there have been more than 760,000 total searches on the site.

OhioCheckbook.com displays more than $585 billion in spending over the past nine years, including more than 159 million transactions. The website includes cutting-edge features such as:

Functionality to compare state spending year-over-year or among agencies; and,

Capability to share charts or checks with social media networks, and direct contact for agency fiscal offices.

In March 2015, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) released their annual “Following the Money 2015” report and Treasurer Mandel earned Ohio the number one transparency ranking in the country for providing online access to government spending data. Ohio was prominently featured in the report after climbing from 46th to 1st in spending transparency as a result of Treasurer Mandel’s release of OhioCheckbook.com. Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio received a perfect score of 100 points this year – the highest score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.

In April 2016, U.S. PIRG announced that Treasurer Mandel earned Ohio the number one government transparency ranking in the country for the second consecutive year in a row. Due to the launch of OhioCheckbook.com, Ohio again received the highest perfect score of 100 points this year – marking the second time in two years Ohio received the highest possible score in the history of the U.S. PIRG transparency rankings.

The Treasurer’s office is partnering with OpenGov, a leading Silicon Valley government technology company, to provide residents of Ohio the ability to view and search local government expenditures in a user-friendly, digital format. “Ohio is setting the standard for financial transparency on an unprecedented scale. We are excited to partner with the Treasurer’s office to bring world-class technology to communities large and small across the state,” said Zachary Bookman, CEO of OpenGov.

For more information or to view your local government website, visit the Local Government option on OhioCheckbook.com or click on: